Calling all Magni!
There’s at least two now! With Robert Kirkman’s Void Rivals having launched Skybound’s Energon Universe, he now takes the writing reins of the flagship Transformers comic series as well, with Dan Mora now on pencils and Sarah Stern on colors.
In this twenty-ninth issue... FIGHT!
Fight?
Yep, that’s about it. After Megatron’s shocking killing of Trailbreaker last issue, Optimus Prime and his boys (and girl) show up to lay the smackdown on the Decepticons. Guess they didn’t have to even roll out to find them! Kirkman takes a break from seeding plot threads to have an all-out Brawl (well, they’re not all Brawl) between the Decepticons and the Autobots for just about the entire issue!
It’s a chance to showcase Dan Mora’s art as the two teams of Transformers on Earth go at it. The Decepticons have the objective of freeing Soundwave from the Ark’s prison cell, while Optimus is rightly ticked at one of his soldiers being turned into a Capri Sun by Megatron!
Uh, what else?
Again, not much, honestly. This fight scene takes up the whole issue, but there are some nice character moments sprinkled within. We get to see Arcee Magnus in action for the first time and you can clearly tell Bulkhead is one of Kirkman’s personal favorite characters. Maybe Brawn is NOT one of his favorite characters, cuz he certainly gets beat up a lot here.
The issue ends with a cliffhanger that’s been building since Kirkman’s first issue, although the timing of this confrontation is not optimal. It IS Opti-MUS though, facing someone in a reunion that is overdue. With next issue likely being the end of this story arc, I guess we’ll see what the future holds for the Autobots on Earth and Cybertron.
Cube?
It’s kinda nice to see Kirkman put all his various plot threads aside for the moment to do an action cartoon for twenty pages. Dan Mora gets to strut his stuff in a few fun fight sequences, including highlights for Bulkhead and Devastator but low-lights for Brawn and Bruticus. I was kind of hoping to see more of Thundercracker’s interaction with his old comrades now that he’s an Autobot too. Still, Dan Mora’s art is the selling point here and it does the job wonderfully.
Buy Transformers # 29 this week and y’know, Onslaught is one of my boys, but there’s no way he could smack Brawn down like that.